1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a charged particle beam irradiation device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Equipment is known in which a charged particle beam such as a proton beam is irradiated onto a patient to perform cancer treatment. This kind of equipment includes a particle accelerator (cyclotron or synchrotron) that accelerates ions generated by an ion source and ejects a charged particle beam, a rotatable irradiation unit (rotatable gantry) that irradiates the patient with the charged particle beam from an arbitrary direction and a beam transport line that transports the charged particle beam ejected from the particle accelerator to the irradiation unit.
In the equipment of the related art with this configuration, it is necessary to separately provide a space (chamber) for the particle accelerator being installed, a space for the beam transport line being installed and a space (chamber) for the rotatable gantry being installed. Further, in order to effectively perform treatment by using this equipment, a plurality of the rotatable gantries are generally provided for one particle accelerator. According to this, enlargement of the equipment occurs and then a large site area is necessary.
On the other hand, in order to enhance general versatility of this charged particle beam irradiation equipment, there is a demand that only one rotatable gantry be provided for one piece of equipment.